Ashok Khemka, senior IAS officer of Haryana cadre, has been promoted as principal secretary along with five others by the Haryana government, an official spokesman said on Friday.Apart from Khemka, five other IAS (Indian Administrative Service) officers of the 1991 batch, namely Vineet Garg, Anil Malik, Shrikant Walgad, Apoorva Kumar Singh and Abhilaksh Likhi, have been promoted to the higher administrative grade.“These IAS officers, on promotion, will continue to function in their present postings till further orders,” the spokesman said.Khemka, whose actions even attracted Prime Minister Narendra Modi's attention in his speeches during Haryana assembly elections in October 2014, hit national headlines in October 2012 when he cancelled the mutation of a Rs 58-crore land deal between Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra and realty giant DLF and ordered a probe into the controversial land deals done by Vadra in Haryana.
Khemka, an IIT graduate, was expected to get an important assignment after the BJP came to power in Haryana in October 2014. However, he was posted in the transport department.In April 2015, the Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP government transferred Khemka to the inconsequential post of secretary, Archaeology and Museums Department and director general, Archaeology and Museums. It was Khemka's 47th transfer in 24 years. The post is considered of virtually no importance.Khemka, after the latest transfer, tweeted: "Tried hard to address corruption and bring reforms in transport despite severe limitations and entrenched interests. Moment is truly painful."